STUDENTS FOR SENSIBLE DRUG POLICY QUESTIONS ISU'S DRUG POLICY

Drugs may be deemed as harmful, but the war on drugs may be causing more harm.

The group Students for Sensible Drug Policy is aware of and fighting
this problem The group holds weekly meetings, which are open to the
public, to discuss drug policies and changing the laws that affect students.

Pete Guither, assistant to the Dean for the College of Fine Arts and
faculty advisor for SSDP, described the group.

"It is both a national organization and a registered organization on
campus," Guither said. "The chapters are mostly colleges, but there
are some high school ones too."

The organization has made some notable accomplishments for college students.

"One of our primary focuses is on repealing the Higher Education Act
Aid Elimination Penalty. This penalty initially denied federal
education aid to anyone convicted of marijuana possession," Lawson
Cassels, president pro-tempore and a senior telecommunications
management major, said.

"SSDP was able to change the law so that people convicted of
possession in the past are still eligible for aid."

Guither added a person convicted of rape does not get denied financial aid.

On Thursday, March 29 at 7 p.m., SSDP will hold a program titled
"Prohibition Kills: An Evaluation of the War on Drugs" in the Old
Main Room of the Bone Student Center. The program will feature
speakers that will discuss the problems with the current war on drugs.

"[Prohibition] is not the way to deal with it," Guither explained.
"Instead, it funds the criminals, and increases crime and violence."

Speakers at the event will include Guither, who runs a Web site for
reforming drug policy, George Pappas, who is working to have a
program in Illinois for medicinal marijuana and Greg Francisco, a
former Coast Guard.

SSDP is also a supporter of legalizing marijuana, for both smoking
and the use of hemp.

"Considering that hemp is non-psychoactive and the U.S. is one of the
only industrialized nations to prohibit its cultivation, it is
obvious that it should be legalized," Cassels said.

Guither added a violation of marijuana should be at the same level of
an alcohol violation on college campuses.

ISU's chapter is getting some recognition, according to Guither.

"We attended the [SSDP] National Conference in Washington D.C., and
we were asked to host the Midwest Regional Conference," he said.

"Prohibition Kills" will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 29 in the
Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center.